Worrying: A pensioner was found at home close to death after being left without medication, food, or water for nine days when police closed the care agency looking after her following this raid, pictured

A pensioner was found at home close to death after being left without medication, food, or water for nine days when police closed the care agency looking after her.

The unnamed woman, in her 80s, was discovered by a district nurse with a faint pulse and dehydrated. She was also suffering from kidney failure and severe bed sores.

The woman was left without the four daily nurse visits she needed after Carefirst 24 was shut down by police and the UK Border Agency officers on Tuesday January 15.

The pensioner, from Banstead, Surrey, was eventually discovered in the appalling condition last Thursday and is now in hospital recovering from her ordeal.

The Surrey Safeguarding Adults Board, made up of representatives from Surrey County Council (SCC), police, the NHS have launched an urgent inquiry.

A close friend of the woman said she could not understand how she came to be left for so long.She was only found by chance when the district nurse popped in to visit her.

Ann Penston, from Sutton, a friend of
the woman, said: 'I got a call because she'd been found dehydrated,
with bedsores and in a terrible mess. They barely got a pulse from her -
it was lucky the district nurse was going there for a different reason.

'How
on Earth could this have been allowed to happen? How can they just
close this thing down and not identify the people they were supposed to
be taking care of?

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'I don't
know how she survived. She had a glass of water by her bed, I don't
know if she managed to get up and get it but my assumption is that for
she was just lying there waiting for someone to come.'

Six people were arrested when police and the UK Border Agency raided Carefirst 24's premises in Cheam, on January 15.

Forgotten: The woman was left without the four daily nurse visits she needed after Carefirst 24 was shut down by police and the UK Border Agency officers

The agency was allegedly employing illegal immigrants under former workers' identities.

Since then Carefirst 24 has not been operating and Surrey County Council and Sutton Council, who contracted care to the company, were to work with people receiving care from it to make arrangements - but the woman slipped through SCC's net.

Sutton Council said alternative arrangements have been made for all its patients who received care from Carefirst 24.

Probe: The Surrey Safeguarding Adults Board, made up of representatives from Surrey County Council (headquarters pictured), police and the NHS have launched an urgent inquiry

A Surrey County Council spokesman said: 'We're saddened to hear about this and our thoughts are with the patient, her family and friends at the moment.

'The safety of vulnerable adults is our top priority. We take any concerns raised very seriously and this is being urgently looked at by the Surrey Safeguarding Adults Board.'

The Local Government Ombudsman could step in to carry out a review if the investigation is deemed insufficient.

Police and the UK Border Agency raided Carefirst 24 in Cheam, and arrested four people at about 10.30am on Tuesday. Two other people were later arrested.

Two British women aged 48 and 52, a 52-year-old British man and a 34-year-old Mauritian man - were held on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and conspiracy to facilitate foreign nationals.

The suspects are alleged to have employed illegal workers under former workers' identities.Carefirst 24 provides care to elderly and vulnerable people around Surrey and South London and has provided staff to Sutton Council - although the council says it has severed ties with the business.